http://pekintimes.com/articles/2008/10/09/news/news646.txt
| News | Thursday, October 09, 2008 |
‘Extreme Makeover' coming to area
By Shannon Tebben-Sandoval
Published: Wednesday, October 8, 2008 2:45 PM CDT
Times correspondent
PEKIN - When Melanie Spurgeon first got a
phone call from a person claiming to represent the ABC Television show
“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” she reacted like most people likely
would. “I thought it was a prank call,” the owner of Peoria-based
Design Built Homes Ltd. said.
But the call was no joke: the
Emmy-award winning reality show that tears down and rebuilds entire
homes for deserving families in need will bring its famous bus to
central Illinois.
The news first broke two weeks ago when the show's Executive
Producer, Conrad Ricketts, appeared on the WHOI-19 morning show to ask
for volunteers and donations to help make the project a reality.
Ricketts said the show receives three to five thousand applications
every day, and has received several from the central Illinois area.
He said several families are under consideration here and producers will make their final decision soon.
Producers
will keep the secret until Oct. 21, when host Ty Pennington will knock
on the door of the chosen family in the now-famous “Good Morning!”
scene of the show.
The suspense continued to build on Monday, as the announcement was made that Spurgeon had signed on to lead the construction.
While
the production won't start filming until later this month, Spurgeon and
her team are already hard at work - gearing up for the seemingly
impossible task of building a house in just four days by working around
the clock.
“It's 106 hours of actual construction,” Spurgeon said.
Under normal conditions, Spurgeon's company would take between
120-150 days to build a home. “I've never built one in seven days, nor
could I,” Spurgeon said. “It takes a community coming together because
it's a barn-raising.”
Spurgeon estimates at least 500 skilled
tradespeople volunteers will be needed for the actual construction, and
hundreds more volunteers will be needed to help with other projects and
to coordinate all the volunteers.
And then there's the matter of
feeding all of those people. Spurgeon is also looking for donations for
the three meals that will be provided on location every day.
A fund has been established at National City Bank for donations that
will help with any supplies that aren't donated - but Spurgeon is
hoping all the materials will be donated so the donated money can go to
the family for other expenses and needs.
Already other area
homebuilders are pitching in, and since the official announcement was
made Monday morning, Spurgeon said she is already receiving some
e-mails of support and donations. But it's just the tip of the iceberg,
and more will be needed and welcomed.
Background
Spurgeon grew up in the construction business, playing at the sites where her grandfather was building homes.
She
graduated from Eastern Illinois University with a degree in education,
but soon found teaching jobs in the 1980 job market were hard to come
by.
So she went to work for her father at his business,
Sunnyland Cabinets, in Washington. At the time, she said she would stay
only for six weeks.
But before long, she started doing home rehabilitation on the side and discovered a passion for real estate.
She bought a lot in East Peoria but couldn't sell it, so instead she built a house there.
“That
gave me the bug,” she said. She started her own construction company in
1993 and has been building homes across central Illinois ever since.
Spurgeon will be the first female construction company owner to be
featured as the lead builder on “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” and
she is confident the experience will be life changing. Producers told
Spurgeon she had been recommended to them, but wouldn't reveal who
suggested her. Over the next few weeks she'll finalize plans for the
home and continue to solicit and organize donations Š all for a family
she hasn't even met yet.
“I've been saying for the last year, I
want to create a legacy,” she said. “I want the business to be known
for something, I want to do something to give back and what a wonderful
opportunity to be able to do that.
“But this isn't just about
me. This is about the community coming together - friends, neighbors,
strangers, trades peopleŠ just everyone rallying around a project and
raising a barn. I'm just the lead.”
To help
Learn more about how to donate money, materials, or your time by visiting www.designbuilthomesextreme.com.
Donations are being accepted under the fund name “Design Built Homes
Extreme Fund” at any of the nine local branches of National City Bank.
A Paypal account has also been established. Please note these are not tax deductible donations.
Comments